She swung, sliced, and screamed as claws raked down her legs. A heartbeat later, that rancor burned away in holy fire. She sent three others after it, quickly losing count as the beasts kept coming and she kept fighting.
Her muscles strained. Her head throbbed. Her body began to fail her as the horde pushed and thrashed, climbing over one another to reach her.
They were legion. She was one. But she would not quit, no matter how much it hurt.
If this was her final fight, she would give it everything she had left.
43.
RUNE
“Our scouts have spotted someone in the woods, sire.”
“A messenger?” Rune asked. After hours of hard marching, the army had stopped for the night. Tents rose along with the full moon and the scent of cooking meat. Rune’s stomach had rumbled as he and Tide Emberwish strode from tent to tent, speaking briefly to soldiers and support alike. It was good for morale, the grand general had told him earlier, for the king—especially a new king—to make personal connections with his men.
“Could be, Your Majesty.” The runner took a sip from his canteen and wiped sweat off his brow. “He was coming from the northeast, near the tunnel exit. Perhaps from Brink.”
A knot of dread tightened Rune’s chest as he glanced toward the mountain, which loomed high against the starry sky. They’d been gone only a day. They were barely away from the city. What kind of news was so urgent? Bad news, that’s what. He was quickly losing faith in any other kind.
“Have the messenger searched thoroughly,” Tide said. “And find out if there’s anyone who can vouch for him.”
“Yes, Grand General. Your Majesty.” The runner bowed, capped his water, and then set off again.
Rune and Tide resumed walking through the camp, all Rune’s personal guards—John and the new ones—following behind them.
“We’ll eat well for a few nights,” the grand general said, nodding toward Rune’s grumbling stomach. “But once those supplies run out, it’s hardtack and whatever we hunt on the way there. There’s a store set aside for you, of course. Kings don’t eat like common soldiers.”
“I don’t need anything special.” Rune gazed across the camp as full dark settled. There were thousands of people here, not just soldiers, but cooks and cleaners and smiths and fletchers. All these people were following him into war. Because he was king.
“You may change your mind when you’ve had nothing but stale biscuits for a week straight.”
Rune agreed, but didn’t admit it out loud. He’d been riding with the grand general all day, discussing tactics and contingencies, and while he was grateful to benefit from a lifetime of experience, he didn’t want Tide to think he needed to be coddled.
“That’s quite a sight!” The voice came from one of the cooks.
Rune followed the man’s gaze to the Malstop, which glowed white-blue over the trees and hills. It was a reminder of the death that waited inside. It looked sick, the barrier. Thin. Stretched and rotting away from the inside.
“Did you see it flicker the other day?” asked another cook.
“I did. Makes you wonder if aught got out.”
Rune clenched his jaw as he and Tide walked past. That flicker had merely been the first. And whether the next was a week or a month away—it didn’t matter. The Incursion was upon them.
Just like he’d been telling his parents since they’d nearly lost Hanne to the malsite.
“Don’t let camp talk get to you,” Tide said. “Incursion or no Incursion, we have a human war to fight first. Don’t let anything distract you. You’re the leader now, and your focus needs to be sharp. True.”
Rune pulled his gaze away from the Malstop, but he couldn’t help wondering if the Nightrender was in there yet. Was she all right? He hated not knowing. He shouldn’t have spoken to her as he had, with such anger and defensiveness. He’d said things he couldn’t take back. Again.
“I’ve sent a dove off to the Embrian grand general, confirming their readiness,” Tide was saying now. “We’ll flank the Ivasland home army from both sides. They’re camped just across their borders and…”
This was all information Rune knew, but Tide clearly thought he needed to hear it again. Rune’s mind turned back to the runner, and the messenger from Brink. How soon could he have that message?
“What do you think, Your Majesty?” Tide asked.
Rune didn’t have time to respond because a sudden wave of sickness crashed over him, and despair rose up and up and up, filling his throat. His heart clenched, and something in his soul twisted in anguish.
“Sire!” John lunged for him. “What’s happening?”
But then a rush of hot, sulfuric-stinking wind raced across the camp.
Trees bowed in horrified supplication, while tents shuddered violently and coughed out scores of soldiers. Shouts rang out in every direction.
“Are we being attacked?”
“Is it Ivasland?”
“Has Embria betrayed us?”
Alarm bells pealed through the night, but it was too late. The stench of malice was thick in the air, and Rune knew what had happened: it wasn’t a messenger from Brink, but an Ivasland saboteur.
And he’d brought a mal-device.
Rune straightened, wrenching away from John. “Run!” he yelled at all the men around him. “Run as fast as you can!”
“Get the king to safety!” Tide shouted. “Carry him over your shoulder if you must!”
“Sire, let’s go!” John grabbed Rune’s arm and dragged him into the center of all his guards. “Now, sire!”
Rune’s heart was thunder as the guards formed a wedge around him, and he lost sight of everything except sweat-soaked uniforms and flashes of firelight between the men’s bodies. Quickly, they pushed away—to where, Rune couldn’t see. All around him, horses whinnied, hounds bayed, and people screamed as they headed away from the expanding field of malice. The stench of it was overwhelming.
“To the king!” someone shouted beyond Rune’s line of sight.
“Capture the Ivaslander!”
If anyone was following any sort of orders, Rune couldn’t tell. His guards kept a tight formation, half carrying him through the growing chaos. He strained to look around, to see what foul effects the malice was causing, but there was no sign of the air changing to poison, or gravity readjusting.
Whatever it was, though, the army of Caberwill was no match. Only the Nightrender could save them from this horror, and she was out of reach.